Due to complete today then this happened...

princessposh

Hi
has anyone come across this scenario before?
We were due to exchange & complete on a house purchase today when i reeived a call from our solicitor stating that the vendors building society refuses to give a redemption figure for the sale of his house until exchange has taken place. It turns out the vendor has arrears on his mortgage and has incurred costs ( amount unknown) The vendor was aware that the amount owed was greater than the price we are paying and has some money aside to cover the difference. However until the building society releases the redemption figure no one is prepared to exchange. That leaves us between a rock and a hard place wit no way forward.
You would have though that the BS would be grateful to get the majority of their money back??

Vendors solicitor has complained directly to the BS to try and resolve the matter but would like to know what we should do in the meantime....sit tight or start looking for something else????
We've spent a lot of money on surveys, fees etc to date and its the second time we've been let down at a late stage!!

Thanks

poppysarah

Ask your solicitor - presumably if the bloke pays the cash to the BS they will be happy.

maninthestreet

princessposh wrote: »

Hi
You would have though that the BS would be grateful to get the majority of their money back??

They will want ALL of the money owed to them, not just some of it.

silvercar

turns out the vendor has arrears on his mortgage and has incurred costs ( amount unknown) The vendor was aware that the amount owed was greater than the price we are paying and has some money aside to cover the difference.

If the vendor has money set aside he could pay off the arrears.

poppysarah

silvercar wrote: »

If the vendor has money set aside he could pay off the arrears.

You'd have thought ...

princessposh

Thanks for the advice. Heard today thatVendors solicitor has lodged formal complaint with BS but BS have said they will only deal with vendor directly. Vendors solicitor feels his hands are tied and our solicitor cannot do anything. In the meantime vendor will only speak with his solicitor and won't speak to EA!!!. I know he needs to cough up the shortfall however the BS refuses to give him a redemption figure. We are thinking of sending a personal letter to the vendors solicitor stating our situation......i.e how long are we expected to sit rounf whilst everyone sits back and waits for for the other one to break the silence!!
Any further ideas ???

kunekune

Would they give a figure if you exchanged but set a date a few weeks time for completion? There are rules about how difficult they can make it to end the mortgage, but presumably they don't want to commit themselves to a figure not knowing whether there is an enforceable contract place, ie, before exchange. He must have SOME idea of what's involved - or an arrangement in place to make sure he doesn't have any risk of a shortfall.

silvercar

thatVendors solicitor has lodged formal complaint with BS but BS have said they will only deal with vendor directly.

I don't think you are being told the whole truth. If the solicitor has documented that he is dealing with the sale, how can the BS refuse to communicate with him?

If the seller wants the sale to go through, why isn't he on the phone every wroking hour, communicating with his BS and sorting this out?

My guess is that there isn't enough money to clear the mortgage (including arrears etc), the BS refuses to release the charge without total payment, the seller was hoping that the BS would be persuaded to take less, the vendor's solicitor has been told to stall while the seller tries to sort something out and is worried about his fee.

In the mean time what is the seller doing? Either hiding away with no plan B or trying to raise a loan from elsewhere.

chickmug

silvercar wrote: »

I don't think you are being told the whole truth. If the solicitor has documented that he is dealing with the sale, how can the BS refuse to communicate with him?

You would be surprised at some of the pompous jerks you come across in these situations. Absolutely NO common sense and NO empathy with the stress they are causing. One part of my carrer I certainly am pleased to be away from now I am retired. It was getting worse not better.

And you could never work out who was being awkward, who was lieing and at the end of it buyers and sellers stressed out of their minds. Everyone (well the Labour Party) thought the HIP was the solution to all house buying woes. NO it wasn't and isn't as the real problem. The problem is communicating and NOT by writing letters but picking up the b****dy phone.

Grrrrrrr!!!!

maninthestreet

princessposh wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. Heard today thatVendors solicitor has lodged formal complaint with BS but BS have said they will only deal with vendor directly. Vendors solicitor feels his hands are tied and our solicitor cannot do anything. In the meantime vendor will only speak with his solicitor and won't speak to EA!!!. I know he needs to cough up the shortfall however the BS refuses to give him a redemption figure. We are thinking of sending a personal letter to the vendors solicitor stating our situation......i.e how long are we expected to sit rounf whilst everyone sits back and waits for for the other one to break the silence!!
Any further ideas ???

I'm with Silvercar on this - why on earth would the vendor's BS refuse to give a mortage redemption figure, and also refuse to even deal with the vendors solicitor concerning this refusal? They would expose themselves to expensive litigation that they stood no chance of winning in any court of law.

Catti

kunekune wrote: »

Would they give a figure if you exchanged but set a date a few weeks time for completion? There are rules about how difficult they can make it to end the mortgage, but presumably they don't want to commit themselves to a figure not knowing whether there is an enforceable contract place, ie, before exchange. He must have SOME idea of what's involved - or an arrangement in place to make sure he doesn't have any risk of a shortfall.

I doubt the Seller's Solicitor would risk this - if the redemption statement comes in at more than the seller can pay and the Solicitor has given an undertaking to clear the charge, then he would be exposed to personal liability. That's why Solicitor's undertakings work so effectively but cannot be given lightly.